Marcellus Shale Coalition Tells EPA Natural Gas Benefits Air Quality
 At a public U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearing on Sept. 27, Marcellus Shale Coalition President and Executive Director Kathryn Klaber underscored the fact that “clean-burning natural gas has undeniable air quality benefits.”
Klaber strongly recommended “a 60-day extension” for the rulemaking comment period, given the host of proposed air regulations related to domestic oil and natural gas development, and expressed hope that regulators will join industry “in recognizing the tremendous air quality benefits of natural gas.”
The Marcellus Shale Coalition is a multi-state association formed in 2008 and currently comprises nearly 250 exploration and production, midstream and supply-chain member companies fully committed to developing clean-burning natural gas resources in the Marcellus geological formation.
“Last year, our coalition adopted a set of guiding principles, which comprise our vision for operating in a responsible, transparent manner in order to maximize the environmental, economic and energy security benefits of clean-burning, abundant natural gas,” Klaber says. “Among those guiding principles is our focus on implementing state-of-the-art environmental protection across our operations. These are words we live and operate by — our commitment to our neighbors in this region and to the state agencies responsible for tightly regulating this industry.”
In a prepared statement to the EPA, Klaber said that the agency had underestimated the cost of complying with reductions in volatile organic compound weight percentages, and recommended a phase-in period for effective rule changes and an extension to the comment period for the implementation of any rulemaking measures.
Klaber is also a member of Pennsylvania’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee, and she stressed the importance of improving environmental quality. Increasing the use of clean-burning natural gas in heating and fueling, transportation and electricity generation will benefit air quality, she said.
“Ours is an industry committed not only to producing more clean-burning American natural gas, but to promoting it as well in our daily operations — from the use of natural gas-powered vehicles to rigs fueled in part by natural gas,” Klaber adds.
The compliance costs associated with the proposed rulemaking would place a severe burden on all operators, particularly those with limited manpower, equipment and resources, she says. The Marcellus Shale Coalition encouraged the EPA to reconsider the financial impacts with a more realistic approach relying on the extensive amount of
supporting data from industry experts.
On Aug. 25, Klaber responded to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s decision to impose a yearlong moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, after the governor had vetoed a bill to permanently ban the natural gas extraction process.
“Our industry is deeply disappointed by Gov. Christie’s decision,” she says. “While the Marcellus Shale formation does not underlie enough of New Jersey to make it economical to produce, and no natural gas producers are actively seeking to explore for natural gas in the Garden State, this policy sends the wrong message to an entire nation benefiting from the responsible production of clean-burning, American natural gas. Further, the governor’s decision runs contrary to his understandable and laudable promotion of the expanded use of natural gas in his state’s energy mix.” |
